Unlike the fairy tale, Alice VR takes place in space on a ship experiencing a severe malfunction. The problems are severe enough to warrant being woken up from your cryogenic sleep. In order to make the necessary repairs you’ll have to access various areas of the ship and some of them require shrinking yourself and returning back to your normal size.

Maneuvering throughout the game is simple enough using an Xbox One controller. The joysticks allow your character to look and move around. Keyboard and mouse support works just as well. The character moves very slowly and this is probably an attempt to avoid inducing motion sickness. Sadly, it doesn’t work. Thankfully, the game is still playable without a VR headset. There is a menu option for increasing the movement speed, and after getting nauseated twice, I opted to play the remainder of the game without VR.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Can be played without a VR headset; good graphicsWeak Points: Gave me motion sickness in VR; game crashes; level and sound glitchesMoral Warnings: Minor language (hell); women shown in revealing clothing on posters; drug references

The gameplay is like a 3D first person adventure game. You have to walk around and explore your surroundings and work around various obstacles preventing you from completing your objectives. Once you get off your ship, you’ll need to start collecting a resource called graphene from a seemingly abandoned planet. Some graphene is lying around in canisters though the majority of it is earned by draining it from abandoned technology left behind on this planet. Another way to acquire graphene is by solving puzzles.

The puzzles in this game are logical which is a pleasant surprise since many adventure games I’ve played have puzzle solutions that totally come out of left field. Since I was able to solve many of the puzzles with little or no effort, many people may find them to be too easy. A couple of the puzzles involve flipping switches in a certain order to unlock the next area. If you do get stuck, there are YouTube walkthroughs available online.

Most of the gameplay is linear, though there are some collectibles and rewards for going off the beaten path. There are a dozen playing cards scattered throughout the game and if you collect all of them, you’ll get a Steam achievement. According to Steam, it only took me four hours to complete this game. In actuality, it was less than that since Steam doesn’t recognize when I exited out the game it thought I was playing it all through dinner one night. So I’m guessing a more accurate game time is 3-3.5 hours.

Like many games, the story is told through voice recordings of the planet’s previous inhabitants and you’ll gradually learn about their struggles before you arrived. The AI giving you orders doesn’t appreciate insubordination, but it is possible. There is some replayability in making different choices, but with the nausea and game glitches, I think I’ll pass.

Besides Steam not registering me leaving the game, I also ran into instances of the sound not working and missing story sequences as a result. Since the game relies on checkpoints and is linear, I was not able to backtrack and hear what I missed. My character has been stuck in place and I had to reload my save to get unstuck. I was also stumped on how to leave a certain level only to realize that it was actually glitched after watching a walkthrough. After reloading my save a couple of times I was able to progress in this hallucination themed level. Despite the hallucinations being triggered by a gas, there are still drug references in this title.

Another issue worth noting is that there are several posters in the city with women wearing sexualized attire. The rest of the artwork and level design is well done and this game utilizes the Unreal 4 engine nicely. When the sound is working properly, the voice acting is well done too.

Fans of Alice in Wonderland and adventure games will probably enjoy this title. The developers have been doing a good job patching the game, but it still needs some more tweaks. If you looking for a good VR experience you may want to look elsewhere or take some motion sickness medicine ahead of time.

Batman - The Telltale Series is a five-part adventure style game that adapts its story based on the choices of the player. As of this review only the first two episodes are available and they are extremely well written with likable characters and good voice acting. Like most adventure games you get to examine your surroundings and interact with various objects to gather clues and solve murder mysteries.

This game earns its mature rating with gruesome crime scenes and harsh language and blaspheming. Pretty much every cuss word but the F-bomb is used. A new game mechanic is introduced that lets you link objects together to piece together murders or to plan Batman’s attack. The battles use quick time events and you have to press the correct key at the right moment to either block or land an attack.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Excellent story that changes depending on the choices you make in the game; great character development and voice acting; new gameplay mechanics to set this series apart from previous Telltale entries.Weak Points: This game is not optimized well; even though I took the merciful route the dialogue with other characters suggested that I did otherwise.Moral Warnings: Extreme violence and language is unavoidable; the player can choose to be vengeful or merciful when dealing with criminals; Catwoman wears tight clothes.

Those who are familiar with Batman’s story will recognize characters like Alfred and the Catwoman. The main villain (who I will not reveal) looked nothing like the movie rendition I saw when I was growing up. Bruce Wayne/Batman remains unchanged with his strong integrity and wide array of expensive technical gadgets at his disposal. The gadget interface color is customizable and purple was the color that I chose.

The tale of Batman is a grim one with a wealthy boy losing his parents at the age of nine. As the story progresses, Bruce Wayne discovers that there was more to his parents’ death than a simple mugging. He also learns that his family’s fortune is built on the suffering of others and that these revelations are hurting the campaign of his friend Harvey Dent. Harvey wishes to save Gotham City by taking the Mayor title away from the corrupt Hamilton Hill.

Throughout the story Bruce/Batman will have to answer questions from police, mobsters, and the press. Silence is an option and it’s one that will be chosen for you if you don’t answer fast enough. Sadly, that was done for me several times due to technical issues running this game.

On my Nvidia 660M powered laptop I noticed that this game ran poorly and that the voice acting was out of synch and that my mouse movement was sluggish at best and unusable at worst. Because the cel-shaded graphics looked amazing, I didn’t want to lower them. I utilized the cloud save feature and enjoyed this game on my more powerful AMD powered desktop. There are many negative Steam reviews reflecting poor performance issues so make sure that you have a powerful enough system and the latest drivers installed before purchasing this game.

If you have a powerful enough system and enjoy Batman and/or adventure games then Batman - The Telltale Series is worth picking up If you’re not put off by strong language and violence. I never get tired of seeing my choices compared with everyone else’s after completing an episode and I'm eagerly waiting for the next three to be released!

The first two episodes started to reveal the dark origins of Bruce Wayne’s wealth. While Bruce is nothing like his parents, Gotham City is rather fickle and he loses the citizens' favor as his family name is being discredited left and right. It doesn’t help that mayor Harvey Dent is jealous that the woman he cares for (Selena Kyle) is attracted to Mr. Wayne and abuses his power to go after Bruce directly.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Excellent story that changes depending on the choices you make in the game; great character development and voice acting; new gameplay mechanics to set this series apart from previous Telltale entries.Weak Points: This game is not optimized well; even though I took the merciful route the dialogue with other characters suggested that I did otherwise.Moral Warnings: Optional sex outside of marriage; violence and gore is mandatory

The relationship between Selena and Bruce is determined by the player's choices and it is possible to sleep with her. If that’s the route they take, they’ll be shown in their undergarments. Bruce Wayne wears boxers, in case you were wondering. As if losing his credibility and friendship with Harvey wasn’t bad enough, Wayne Enterprises responds to the allegations by asking Bruce to step down as CEO. While Bruce is understanding of his forced resignation, he’s infuriated and rightly concerned about who they hired as his replacement.

Episode four begins after an eventful speech with Bruce Wayne waking up in Arkham Asylum. As a patient! Because of his family name he’s given a violent welcome and must choose his allies carefully. A patient with green hair and a big smile is rather friendly towards Bruce and is willing to help him get out. Bruce has the option of promising to return a favor in the near future.

The final episode is not short on excitement as Alfred Pennyworth is kidnapped and Bruce has to locate and save him before he gets beaten to death. There’s no shortage of blood and language in this finale and there’s plenty of blood splattered crime scenes to investigate to piece together what went down in Bruce’s absence.

Some difficult choices have to be made and I love how this series adapts to the choices you make. At the completion of every episode your choices are compared to everyone else’s and my choices were usually in line with theirs. Some of the harder choices were choosing to attend events as Bruce or Batman. Between the interactive choices, adventure style gameplay, and the crime scene investigations, there is little difference between these chapters and the previous ones.

At $5 an episode this is a mature but fun series to embark on. There’s a hint of a sequel, and I look forward to donning the cowl and cape again soon. Hopefully the next Batman series will be better optimized for those running video cards that cost less than $250.

Thank you Telltale Games for sending us a review code for this series!

Batman: The Enemy Within takes place shortly after the previous Telltale Batman series. Bruce Wayne is atoning for his father’s crimes and is no longer the public face of Wayne Enterprises. The company has been doing well since he was forced to step down as CEO. Alfred still has trauma from his recent kidnapping by Lady Arkham, but he won’t let that get in the way of aiding Bruce/Batman any way he can.

The enemies from the previous series are pretty quiet in this one. Lady Arkham is presumed dead, yet her body was never located. Harvey Dent was taken away by GCPD and is either in jail or in a mental institution for his crimes. John Doe/The Joker awkwardly appears at a funeral and depending on Bruce’s decisions he can be friendly or upset with him. John Doe and Bruce share a common foe, The Riddler.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Great story; tough decisionsWeak Points: Lots of quick time events if you’re not a fan of themMoral Warnings: Extreme violence, blood, and gore; gambling; language and blaspheming

True to his name, The Riddler demands answers to riddles in exchange for a chance to survive. One of his riddles is “What question can you never answer yes to?” The answer is "Are you dead?". His methods are cruel and often deadly if answered too slowly or incorrectly. Like the previous series, blood and gore is plentiful in this title. The Riddler likes to use torture/death chambers to trap his targets in until he gets the answers he seeks. In the beginning of this episode, a crime boss is in one of these chambers and takes too long to respond and you get to watch a saw blade remove the tips of a couple of his fingers. Many people get shot and one guy gets his throat cut open. Fortunately, not everyone dies as some people only get tased.

Lives of people will depend on the decisions that Bruce/Batman makes. Because of some choices I made I spared the lives of some agents while causing deafness in another. Not all of the decisions are tough ones though. Besides being able to chose Batman’s gadget color, you can also select the music he listens to while working in the Batcave. I chose classical over ambient or jazz.

I like how you can have Bruce tell the truth or lie to people. I often went the truthful route and actually made some people angry by being honest. Besides lying you’ll see some gambling, smoking, and drinking throughout the game. Gotham is a pretty dangerous town but lung cancer may kill Commissioner Gordon before a bullet does. Foul language is also prevalent in this game and some characters don’t hesitate in taking the Lord’s name in vain. I’ve already covered the violence earlier in this review and because of the gore alone, this game should not be played by or near young children.

The background music, sound effects, and voice acting are all top notch as usual with Telltale’s games. Visually, this series is very similar to the previous one and it ran great on my GTX1070 powered laptop. The previous installment had performance issues which I have not experienced in this one.

Overall, this series is off to a great start and I look forward to the next four episodes. If you don’t mind the moral issues in this series or the previous one, I recommend checking it out. Because of the gruesome violence, please don’t play this game around kids. As an adult I cringed several times.

In a totalitarian state, Carl Stein has been chosen to become a landlord in a class-D apartment block. To aid him in his duties, he’s been injected with an experimental drug that suppresses his need for sleep. When entering the apartment complex for the first time, Carl and his family get a glimpse of the former landlord who was obviously beat up and battered for his poor performance. The government isn’t messing around and they make their job requirements pretty clear.

Your job is to spy on, eavesdrop, profile, and report any suspicious behavior of your tenants. Reporting criminals who make drugs is a no brainer, but what about people who break the sillier laws? Do you report your wife who cries over your daughter’s illness? What about those who are unlawfully reading books, buying apples, or wearing blue ties or jeans?

On top of dealing with repairs and tasks from the government, you’ll have to find ways to stay afloat financially. Paying for groceries, utilities, college and medicine is not cheap. You’ll earn money from the government by profiling, reporting, and completing tasks from them. There are other ways to make money as well. You can blackmail, scheme with or against your tenants. One of the tasks given to me by the government was to influence a recent lottery winner to invest in jellied meat. Upon doing so I received a nastygram from him stating that he’d like to feed me all of this jellied meat he’s stuck with. Other interactions with the tenants can turn deadly as I was killed for flipping one of them off and another time I was murdered for destroying a library book.

Highlights:

Strong Points: A fun game that revolves around spying and making tough decisionsWeak Points: Long loading times; confusing reporting systemMoral Warnings: Many opportunities to make unethical decisions, blood and violence; language, crass humor; alcohol, drug, and tobacco use

Other than the blood, murder, and flipping people off, there is some language in this game as well. The F-bomb isn’t used, but the rest of the words are. This isn’t a game for children as it deals with many life and death situations. Do you dare defy the government while risking the lives of your loved ones?

Throughout the game you’ll have the “opportunity” to house known resistance members. If the government catches wind of this, you could be fined and wind up looking a lot like the previous landlord did when he failed his job performance review. On the flipside, you’ll also be tasked with housing important government officials and will be persuaded by the resistance to make their stay there an unpleasant one. Evicting tenants is sometimes necessary. If they don't leave willingly, you can plant illegal items in their apartments and then report them.

Each decision you make has consequences and with the limited finances, the choices are even tougher. The easier difficulty, Trainee, pays you more for your tasks and lowers the price of expenses. The normal difficulty is called Government Elite.

The gloomy graphics and bleak atmosphere are fitting for this war themed game. The characters have a shadow like appearance and their emotions are shown as thought bubbles above their heads. There's not much voice acting, but the background music and sounds effects are well done.

Like many games, characters have an exclamation point above their head if they have a quest for you. Though the quests usually don’t pay you, they can establish a relationship which can come in handy later down the line. For example, you can help set up a doctor on a blind date and in turn he’ll examine your daughter when she gets sick.

Besides money, you earn reputation points for completing quests and tasks. Reputation points can be spent to influence tenants to reveal more information about themselves or they can be used to intimidate people to get what you want. Some situations will require you to spend money or reputation points to smooth things over.

Though the tenants and main quests are the same, Beholder is replayable through making different decisions and unlocking various Steam achievements. There are achievements for keeping your entire family alive or for being the sole survivor.

In the end, Beholder is a thought-provoking game that tests your morality and love for your family at the same time. While there are moments of (occasionally crude) humor and silliness, the majority of the game is depressing with the constant warfare and overreaching government ruining the lives of its citizens.

As a medium of storytelling, video games are in a unique position to tell a tale bolstered by player interaction. Even without the potential for branching paths and different outcomes, a video game story that can mesh with its gameplay offers something potentially more memorable than just the story itself. The so-called “walking simulator,” a relatively recent genre, tends to swing heavily on the side of the narrative, often at the expense of the actual “game” part of “video game.” Occasionally, however, whether by design or by accident, a walking simulator can have its gameplay overshadow its story; Corpse of Discovery is one such example.

A first-person exploration game, Corpse of Discovery has you assume the role of an unnamed Major in the semi-titular Corps of Discovery, a space-faring organization dedicated to exploring and cataloguing unknown planets. Stranded on the planet Tellurus after a heavy spaceship landing, the Major sets out to finish his mission, collect his payday, and return home to his family – assuming the Corps even knows he’s marooned.

The basic gameplay is just that: the Major can walk, sprint, and jump as he moves to various indicated locations inside the home base and on the planet proper. To start, those three options, as well as a double-jump, are all you have available. Later, the game changes it up a little by giving you some new equipment as you progress – namely, a handheld holo-map that replaces your otherwise ever-present mission indicator, and a limited-use jetpack. Tellurus has low gravity, so the Major’s jumps cover a lot of distance and make platforming simple and enjoyable. Each set of tasks you complete on the planet ends with the Major passing out and reappearing at the base, only to find a new mission, a messier dwelling, and a radically transformed planet await him – whether it’s a dusty Mars-like wasteland or a lush rainy biome, he’s still on Tellurus and there’s still things to be done.

If the gameplay ended there, it wouldn’t be much of a game; thankfully, there are a few mechanics that make it much more engaging. While the planet itself gets more and more difficult to traverse with each variation, with natural barriers and dangers cropping up with greater frequency, the game also introduces enemies of a sort. After the first planet, the Major begins being hunted by giant, pitch-black, nigh-indescribable monsters that glide through the sky, projecting a searchlight out of their single eye. With no ability to combat them, and with their tendency to congregate around your destination, avoiding them becomes your main challenge. The game thus becomes a balancing act of avoiding the monsters and platforming around the planet, trying to find the best and safest route to your destination.

The sound design is especially crucial to making the monsters feel like a threat, and is spot-on in that regard. While the music, usually in the form of a soft music box-style lullaby that’s underscored with a hostile droning, certainly adds to the tension, the noise the monsters make is especially effective. Their low-toned chaotic rumblings and wordless whispers start quiet but can be heard from quite far away; if one’s on top of you, it’s practically all you can hear. The Major moves quite fast normally, so the sprint option is mostly to get away quickly – he’ll start loudly panting almost immediately, which only heightens the sense of anxiety when combined with the monsters’ noises. Altogether, the game borders on being survival horror, and makes the gameplay more than the sum of its parts, even if the main premise isn’t exactly interesting.

Oddly enough, especially in a game that bills itself as a walking simulator on the Steam page, its story brings down its serviceable gameplay. The narrative is presented in two ways: examining objects will flash unspoken subtitles on the screen detailing what the Major is thinking; and each main objective reached will draw comments from your floating, spherical robot companion AVA. The overall plot is rather predictable, and the lessons you’re meant to learn on each planet is presented with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer. AVA goes on long-winded lectures at the drop of a hat, and her dry, cynical tone can get overbearing real fast. Her voice acting is great – all of the voices in the game are high quality, in fact – but the constant one-sided conversations quickly grow old. In case you still don’t grasp the moral of the section from AVA’s ramblings, it’s presented to you as a cover of a book in your room at the start and as an out-of-context subtitle at the end of each mission.

In general, the game tells more than it shows. Each object carries a subtitle to plainly state what significance it has to the Major – for instance, optional objectives between each main one will have the Major hallucinating something, like a pizza or his bedroom on Earth, and rather than letting you extrapolate its meaning, the Major will tell you what it means to him. This will also get you berated by AVA, making this game one of the likely few exploration games on the market that will rebuke you for exploring it. By the end of the game, there are no more mysteries to think about, as everything has been explained – even the monsters, whose presence aren’t acknowledged by the Major or AVA outside of their introduction, are given a lengthy explanation, which is made even more unnecessary by the visuals at the time. In addition, there are a few spelling and grammar errors – the most egregious being, upon finding some cakes lying around, the Major declares his fondness for “deserts.” Even with its somewhat overdone but very salvageable concept, the story over-explains itself, and leaves you with very little to think about when all is said and done.

This is more of a shame considering how well done the visuals are. Each variation of Tellurus is beautiful in its own right, and the way the monsters look and move only add to their imposing presence. There are little details to enjoy as well: the most impressive might be the rain on the second planet, which streams down your view constantly but also splatters on your helmet if you look up. The main portions of the planets are not randomly generated, which is a boon in that it allows for coherent and consistently-traversable geography, though it does diminish the replay value. To the game’s credit, there are no artificial barriers in the form of invisible walls or insurmountable pits; you can walk in one direction forever, enjoying location-appropriate randomly generated landscape that can still hold some pleasant surprises.

This does come with a tradeoff, mainly in the form of pop-in; even at the highest setting, portions of the landscape will constantly spring into view as you move around. The game doesn’t have to load very often, but it will freeze everything for at least five seconds when it does. Picking up the holo-map for the first time plunged the mostly-stable framerate into the single digits for a good half-minute, though it didn’t happen later in the game or on a replay. Finally, and strangely, opening the menu with the escape key, then closing it with escape rather than the “return” option, will leave the mouse cursor on the screen until you left-click. It all might be a good price to pay for such impressive graphical strength, but it’s a price nonetheless.

There are a fair few moral warnings about this game as well. The monsters make for some unsettling imagery, along with a few frightening-looking alien creatures. One planet variation has you looking for the corpses of other Corps members, with various effects applied on a few that look like they’re being eaten by insects, though they’re still in their fully-intact spacesuits. AVA goes on a profanity-laden rant near the end of the game, with F- and S-bombs thrown around. The story touches on some heavy themes, death being the principal subject. There is also a section on religion – while neutral, with the moral coming down to encouraging thorough examination of your beliefs, AVA’s typical cynicism makes the tone appear more hostile than it really is. The main theme of the game is the importance of family, and indeed the well-being and happiness of his family is the Major’s ultimate goal, but again, it’s presented a little more aggressively than it needed to be.

Overall, Corpse of Discovery comes closer to being survival horror than a walking simulator; if presented differently, it could have been a solid, thought-provoking experience. As it stands, however, the clumsily-told story interferes with the rich visual and aural information; sometimes, less truly is more, especially in storytelling. Still, there’s a decent game to be found in here that might be worth looking into during a sale, as long as those moral issues don’t scare you away.

Thanks to NIS America for providing a review code for the PS4 version! The reviewer bought their own copy for the PS Vita as well to test cross-save as well as technical differences.

It’s Punishment Time again! Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is the third main game (not counting the spin-off Ultra Despair Girls) in the Danganronpa series. Danganronpa (a compound word from the Japanese “Dangan” meaning “bullet” and “Ronpa” meaning “refute,” which you can combine into “Bullet refutation”) is a series that fuses elements of mystery fiction presented as a visual novel with courtroom legal puzzles akin to the Ace Attorney series. In these games, a group of special high school students (localized as the “Ultimates” who each have an “Ultimate” talent) are trapped in a prison-like setting and forced to participate in a “Killing Game” overseen by the exceptionally creepy Monokuma. The students are imprisoned until they “graduate.” How does one graduate? By killing a fellow student! But merely killing a fellow student isn’t enough; the killer also needs to survive the Class Trial. In the Class Trial, the students will debate over who they think did it, and if they are correct, the murderer (referred to as the “Blackened”) will be punished (a word which here means brutally executed) and the remaining students will continue to be imprisoned. However, if they are incorrect, all students except the blackened will be punished, and the blackened walks free.

We don’t have reviews for Danganronpa 1 or 2 on this site (yet), and some familiarity with the game should be assumed to adequately describe the differences in V3. Further, despite being the third main game, the game should be referred to as V3, because there is an anime series already called Danganronpa 3, which has very little connection with this game (save for a few references here and there). V3 represents a series of refinements to the Danganronpa formula that work reasonably well. As such, despite any statements to the contrary, I firmly believe you should play Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc and Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair before playing V3. The final chapters of V3 spoil major elements of both prior games, and familiarity with the characters is highly recommended.

New this time around are the Monokubs, the “kids” of Monokuma. They each have distinct personalities and designs, all of which have a unique color that replaces the black in the black-and-white design of Monokuma. First is Monotaro, the leader the the Monokubs, whose color is red, and has a scarf with a sheriff's badge on it. Next is Monodam, who is the most robotic of the group, and is colored green. Monokid, who is blue, has distinctive features of talking like a rock star, having noticeable chest hair, and carrying an electric guitar. The pink-colored Monophanie is the only female of the group, who wears a flower in her ear and a coconut bra. Finally we have the yellow-colored Monosuke, who wears glasses and flashes luxury items around. Interestingly, Monosuke is apparently meant to be an Osaka stereotype, and he even speaks in the Kansai dialect of Japanese in the Japanese dub.

The setup is thus: 16 students are trapped in a prison-like complex with only very vague memories of how they got there. The cast of characters is especially diverse this time around, including such folks as Gonta Gokuhara, the large, well-dressed Ultimate Entomologist who speaks a bit like Tarzan; Korekiyo Shinguji, the masked and somewhat-withdrawn Ultimate Anthropologist; and Kirumi Tojo, the prim and proper Ultimate Maid.

Gameplay consists of three major parts: Free Time, Investigation, and Class Trial. In Free Time, you wander the school, and can talk to characters. If you choose to hang out with them, you can get closer to them. You can also give them a gift (but each character has different likes and dislikes!), which will help strengthen your relationship with them in the form of Friendship Fragments, which are used to buy abilities for the Class Trial. Developing the relationship in this way also gives you insight into their backstory. If you continue to strengthen your relationship with them, you can unlock new abilities for the Class Trial (without having to buy them with Friendship Fragments), as well get a better backstory for the character in question. Hanging out with someone passes the time (a mechanic similar to spending time with Confidants in Persona 5). You only get a limited number of Free Time slots per chapter, so choose carefully! Further, unlike the Confidant/Social Link system in the Persona games, it is impossible to max out everyone on a single run of the game. Some characters will almost certainly die before you can max them out, and because of the limited slots, it is mathematically impossible to complete everyone even if you are playing the game for the second time. However, if you want to complete them all before starting the game again, the bonus mode Love Across The Universe allows you to max everyone’s bonds out and allows you to use their abilities in the Class Trials. Free Time comes to an end when someone is murdered.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Best-looking and sounding Danganronpa game ever, great cast of characters, highly intriguing plot, lots of bonus modes, improved minigame mechanics.Weak Points: Sometimes it is not obvious where to click to find the item needed to complete the investigation, ending is definitely polarizing, some bonus modes feel a bit simple.Moral Warnings: Intense and graphic violence, partial nudity and skimpy outfits on occasion, many sexual references and jokes, very strong language, some occult references

Once someone is murdered, the investigation is on! You interact with elements of the crime scene and interview characters to earn clues (referred to here as “Truth Bullets”), and once you have found all of the Truth Bullets, the game will progress to the Class Trial. The Investigation is impossible to fail, but it can be difficult to tell where to go to find clues. Usually a character will tell you where you need to go, or a marker will be placed on your map. Further, your character won’t allow you to leave a room until you’ve collected all the evidence in the room at that time, so don’t worry about missing something crucial, but there will be times you haven’t investigated a non-obvious part of the room and might tear your hair out trying to figure out what you missed. New to V3 (this can be done in any room) is the ability to slap things around. By slapping things around, you unlock monocoins, which you can use to buy presents to give to people during Free Time.

Then comes the real meat of the game: the Class Trial. In the Class Trial, you must piece together the truth of the murder, including who did it and how. This is accomplished through various minigames and logic puzzles. The first minigame you come across is the most common: The Non-stop Debate. In a Debate, statements appear on the screen as characters talk. Certain statements will be Yellow/Orange, indicating that they are weak points. You will also get a loadout of selected Truth Bullets with which to attack these weak points. To attack the weak point, aim the cursor at the weak point with the selected Truth Bullet, and fire! However, only the correct Truth Bullet and the correct weak point will work, otherwise you will take damage. If you take too much damage, the Trial will end, and you will lose. Additionally, other mechanics come into play here, including White Noise and V-Counters. White Noise is a staple of Danganronpa, where colored text (in V3, it is red) can appear in an Argument, and hitting it with your Truth Bullets will cause you to miss. You can use an alternate fire called the Silencer to dispel white noise. V-Counters are a new thing to V3, where you can hit a specific part of the weak point (indicated by holding the Focus button) and gain extra points. It is wholly optional, but a nice test of skill.

There are other minigames too, which tackle various parts of the Trial proceedings as well. These include a tile-flipping game, a rudimentary driving simulator, and a couple variations on the Argument that spice things up a bit. Part of the fun of Danganronpa is figuring these games out on your own, so I won’t go into too much detail here, but for returning veterans, here’s what you need to know: There is no Bullet Time Battle/Panic Talk Action; instead you get Argument Armament which is a mostly-less-frustrating rhythm section. Cross-Sword confrontations are back, and don’t seem as limiting as they were in Danganronpa 2. The Logic Dive from Danganronpa 2 has been functionally replaced by Psyche Taxi, which involves picking up objects to construct the question, and then answering the questions. Finally, there is a new mechanic added to the debates: lying. By holding the fire button, your truth bullet will invert its meaning, and there are some weak points where you can lie to progress the story. This doesn’t always seem optional, but it is mostly something you don’t need to do aside from a few places. The lying mechanic allows you to progress the trial differently, enabling what is called a “back route” in the trial.

The story is the main draw to Danganronpa games, and the story in V3 is really something else. Without spoiling too much, the story goes in very unexpected directions (especially near the end) that not all fans may like. I was left speechless by the end of the game, and had to think on it for a few days before I could determine how I felt about it. In the end, I decided that I liked it, but felt like it could have been executed better.

Once you complete the main game, some bonus modes unlock for you to play with as well. The first of these is called The Ultimate Card Death Machine. This operates a lot like a Gacha game, where you have absurd drop rates for certain rarity cards, and while progressing another mode makes the rates better, it also makes each “pull” more expensive. Next you have Ultimate Talent Development Plan, which is a board game that features all characters from prior Danganronpa games and allows you to level up those cards you got in the dispenser. With them leveled up, you can then proceed to the next bonus mode: Despair Dungeon: Monokuma’s test. This bonus mode is a dungeon crawler that is a pretty standard turn-based RPG. It’s very similar to NES-era RPGs, and you shouldn’t have any trouble with this.

The final bonus mode is a continuation of prior Danganronpa bonus modes, which allows you to complete the Free Time events for characters you did not have time to complete during the main game. It also adds dating sim aspects. This mode is fun if you like the characters, and allows you to experience Free Time events that would otherwise be inaccessible in the main game. The dating sim portion seems equal parts played for laughs and for fan service.

The bonus modes are completely optional, and do not have any impact on the story other than giving you extra things to do once the main game is over. The bonus modes definitely add to the overall package value of the game, but do not worry if you don’t find them interesting; the core of the game is still well worth the price of admission.

Alright, now that we’ve talked about the gameplay, let’s talk about some of the more technical and aesthetic aspects of the game. The Danganronpa games have always had a very eccentric visual style to them, and V3 continues this trend with vastly improved UI, higher resolution textures, and higher quality sprites. The character designs are excellent, the backgrounds are top-notch, and the overall style is very good. This is the best-looking Danganronpa game yet, especially on PS4.

Another standout for Danganronpa games has been the music, which always hits the right notes for the situation. Composer Masafumi Takada has done it once again, and created an excellent score that reuses the best parts of prior soundtracks while blending new songs in too. His music serves as great backing to the tense Class Trials, or the relaxed Free Time, and even the brutal Punishments. The music hits all the right notes when it needs to, and it is excellent. On the other hand, voice acting is a more complicated issue. On the Vita version, the audio is severely compressed and clips noticeably while also sounding very distorted. Spike Chunsoft has released a patch that I highly recommend downloading from the PlayStation store, as it gives the game the uncompressed audio it deserves. It’s called Danganronpa V3 - HQ Audio Pack. Meanwhile, the game comes with both English and Japanese audio. I played the game with Japanese audio, and I found it to be a very good experience. English audio in Danganronpa games is a bit more complicated. I think I am in the minority of Danganronpa fans who prefers Japanese audio to English (based on a StrawPoll on the Danganronpa subreddit). The English dub here is fine. Nothing bad, nothing particularly outstanding either in my opinion. In the end, this choice is up to you, and you can’t really go wrong either way.

One thing I feel compelled to talk about is how the game was localized. The localization of the game makes some adjustments to the text, and if you know a little Japanese or are great at picking up details, you can hear inconsistencies in the dialog in the Japanese audio track and the text being rendered on screen. One character has lines changed that really alters the way their character is perceived, and I’m not happy that they did. Spoilers abound, but the description is here: http://oumakokichi.tumblr.com/post/166327441530/what-do-you-think-about-nisamericas-localization

A new feature this time around takes advantage of the simultaneous releases on Vita and PS4. The game supports cross-save between the PS4 and Vita versions, and as I already had the Vita version on pre-order when I was given the review code, I decided to try it out. The good news is: it works! The bad news is: it feels excessively complicated. To transfer a save, on the first console you need to back out to the main menu, select Cross-Save, then select Upload. Then pick the save you want to upload. First, it will load the save. Then you will be prompted again to actually upload the loaded save. Finally, it will upload to the PSN. On the second console, go to the main menu and select Cross-Save. Then select Download, and download the save onto your device. Then you go back to the main menu, and load the save. While there are far worse ways this could have been handled, it still feels unnecessary to go through so many menus to accomplish it.

Loading times could be a severe issue at certain points in the game. In chapter 4, a new area is introduced that was rife with loading pauses that made that section of the game really drag. Near the end, I also encountered some longer load times when entering and leaving buildings. I did not encounter any serious bugs, nor were there any crashes on the Vita or PS4. The Vita version has reduced texture quality compared to the PS4 version, and pop-in was sometimes noticeable as well, however it was not obtrusive as to ruin the experience.

The moral content section for this review was the one I was most dreading to write, in part because there are so many things to cover. Please be warned that there will be minor spoilers throughout this section except where more direct spoilers are needed. These will be tagged accordingly, but consider yourself warned.

The sexual content in Danganronpa games has always been pretty minimal in my experience, but V3 seriously ups the ante here. Danganronpa games have always had at least one perverted character (someone who has an innuendo-laden response to almost any situation), and V3 is no exception. The main difference this time is that it’s a girl, Miu Iruma, who happens to be the perverted one. She frequently makes references to her and other female characters' breasts, makes jokes about how all the guys are just dying to sleep with her, talks about sex toys and condoms, makes references to her very...unique fetishes, and so on, usually seeming to arouse herself in the process. She flirts with K1-B0, and even gives him some upgrades (which DO have actual uses), but the entire topic is approached in a very innuendo-laden way. I have to admit, it got really tiring. A scene near the beginning involves a female character changing clothes and we see a naked silhouette that isn't too scandalous, but is a little bit revealing. Additional scenes involve seeing characters in their underwear, or naked but from angles such that nothing is shown. Maxing out a bond with a character during Free Time will give you that character’s underwear, and while normally this is not addressed in the segment, in the case of Miu, she uses a device that teleports it off of her and hands it to you during the last Free Time event. One of the characters mentions being “very in love” with his sister, and while the rest of the cast reacts with appropriate levels of disgust to revelations of incest, the entire sequence where he mentions how much he loves his sister is exceedingly uncomfortable. In fact (tying in with the occult section below), he has been (or at least claims to be) partially inhabited by his sister’s spirit since he performed a seance, and their dynamic is very odd indeed.

On a more minor note, one of the characters refers to all of the male characters as “Degenerate males” and doesn’t really let up her slack outside a few Free Time events where you learn more about her. One character is always wearing a swimsuit, but usually also wears an open robe that makes it a little less scandalous than it would otherwise be. In a scene in the A/V room, a character finds what is almost certainly a pornography video. They never show anything onscreen, and the character is clearly very embarrassed that they found such a thing. Further, as part of the Love Across the Universe section, going on a date with someone allows you to select from a range of options, including the ability to read a dirty book together in the library. The content is never explicitly discussed, but it is still something you can do.

There is also what is sometimes referred to as the “Love Hotel” where you can spend casino coins (more on that in a moment) to buy a key. Using the key at night will give you a random scene with one of the characters. In this scene, you are a participant in that person’s fantasy. The fantasies can take several forms which range from touching conversations to those that heavily imply the two characters slept together.

Drug content consists mostly of just references, and non-specific ones at that. Miu makes reference to wanting to take some drugs and forget about the situation they are in. Monosuke is sometimes seen holding what looks like a cigar.

Given all this talk about executions and murders, it's no surprise that there would be a lot to talk about here with respect to violence. Danganronpa games are very violent, and V3 is no exception. Characters are killed in very gruesome ways (*SPOILER TAG*)(one character is killed by having a sickle forced through their neck, another is killed by drowning only to have their body consumed by piranhas, and so on), and blood is often everywhere. One particularly gruesome case involves a body being crushed by a hydraulic press.(*END SPOILER TAG*) Thankfully we don’t witness the actual killing, only the aftermath (*SPOILER TAG*)(with the exception of the piranhas scene, and an off-angle view of the hydraulic press case in video form) (*END SPOILER TAG*). The blood is purple, but it’s still very clearly blood. Executions are just as bad, including such items as: (*SPOILER TAG*)a character being hung by the neck and swung around before being crushed by spikes, a character being forced to climb a spiked rope while being slashed at with saw blades only to fall to their death, and a character being boiled alive in a melting pot. (*END SPOILER TAG*)

Danganronpa has never really held back in the language department either, and again, this game is no exception. Characters use all manner of curse words from the C-word in reference to female anatomy, F-word, S-word, both B-words, and other swears. The game definitely earns an M rating in this department.

The occult/supernatural content of this game is a little tricky to pin down. One of the characters claims to be a mage, but her title is magician. All of the stuff she does are normal magic tricks, but she claims it is real and not the illusory stuff. A resurrection ritual is mentioned, but never performed. A seance is held, but does not work. In one of the executions, the character’s spirit appears to leave their body, only to be pelted by salt (injuring them in the process). As mentioned above, (*SPOILER TAG*)one character claims that his dead sister’s spirit has inhabited his body. Further, he has killed girls so that they can be friends with his sister in the afterlife. (*END SPOILER TAG*) One of the characters worships a god (or claims to) called Atua, that she claims possesses her when she makes art. Further, she often claims to speak for Atua, and even manages to convert a few characters to her side for a brief period of time. This character seems to be heavily inspired by Polynesian culture, where Atua is a word often used to refer to plural gods or a monotheistic god.

Lastly, there are some points to make about ethical content in the game. The big thing to note here is the new lying mechanic. Lying is mostly optional and is not usually needed to progress the story (I only used it a few times when I saw no other way to progress), but lying will give you a different route to the end of the trial. Whether or not this is seen as encouraging it is left as an exercise to the reader, but it is something I believe I should note. Further, at the end of the game, you are left with the impression that lies are not inherently bad, and can lead to hope, while some truths can lead to despair.

Danganronpa V3 almost feels like a swansong from the developers of Danganronpa. The story and characters are more ambitious than prior games, and the ending is definitely the kind of polarizing that will keep people talking for a while yet. The improvements to the gameplay and aesthetics are proof that a lot of love went into the development of this game. If the content outlined is something you are willing to put up with, you will find a very competent set of murder mysteries with a plot that really wants you to think about the game more. But on the other hand, the ending is polarizing enough that I can also see being massively let down by it. In the end, I can’t really recommend or not recommend this game, as how you will like it is entirely dependent on how you feel about the story developments, and of course, if you are willing to put up with the very large amount of objectionable content in the game.

In 1993, LucasArts released a sequel to the popular adventure game “Maniac Mansion.” With bizarre graphics and a storyline by Ron Gilbert and Tim Schaefer – now popular veterans in the video game industry – Day of the Tentacle worked its way into the hearts of gamers everywhere. This classic has now undergone the “remastered” treatment, with an updated graphics and interface, to delight and confuse gamers of a new generation.

Day of the Tentacle features a short purple tentacle who, after drinking some toxic sludge, develops arms and a desire to take over the world. Three teenagers set out to prevent the purple tentacle from succeeding, and they have to use time-traveling port-a-potties to travel back in time one day to turn off the sludge maker. However, an accident forces each kid into three different eras, and they have to use their skills in order to accomplish their goals.

The game has a keen sense of humor and never takes itself too seriously. The main characters themselves are wacky – lovable nerd Bernard, neurotic med-student Laverne and obese rocker Hoagie are the stars of the game and wonderfully animated and voice acted. The supporting cast also contains bizarre people, including the Edison family, and historical figures like George Washington. Adventure games have to be driven by a good story, and Day of the Tentacle continues to demonstrate how adventure games should be done, with a solid plot and memorable characters.

The graphics are reminiscent of Looney Tunes cartoons, with bizarre architecture and skewed lines. The remastered game features hand-drawn scenes and matches the theme of the game delightfully. The voice acting, which was already great in the original, is still fantastic. The background music sets the mood well, but is hardly memorable. One of the songs is repetitious, though, but needs to be played in order to unlock one of the many achievements in the Steam version of the game.

The achievements – another of the new features of the game – can be tricky to discover without a guide. Some of them can be only accomplished by combining items in an illogical fashion, and in the game sometimes only brings a generic “I don't want to do that” response. That being said, it does award people for experimenting in the fashion that made these games popular in the first place – you'll need out-of-the-box thinking and experimentation in order to solve the puzzles, and some of the most bizarre answers turn out to be the correct ones in order to proceed through the game. For instance, one of the early puzzles has Laverne hanging by her underwear from a kumquat tree 200 years in the future. She can't do anything while there, so you have to figure out a way to get rid of the kumquat tree. The same tree exists 200 years in the past. Hoagie can try to convince George Washington to chop down the tree, but the Founding Father insists that he only chops down cherry trees. A bucket of red paint will solve that problem!

Day of the Tentacle offers a variety of options to play the game as well. You can switch the graphics to a low-resolution, pixellated style reminiscent of the 1993 original. You also can change the user interface to resemble the original as well. And just like the original, Maniac Mansion is hidden within the game and also is fully playable. It is the inclusion of this game that leads to some of the moral issues, as Maniac Mansion does contain some blood, girls in skimpy outfits, and some nude sculptures - albeit at such low resolution nothing can really be seen. These don't appear in Day of the Tentacle, though, so those can be easily avoided except for those trying to get all of the achievements.

Day of the Tentacle does have its own share of moral issues, however. There is cartoony, slapstick violence, but that's a minor issue. The Lord's name is taken in vain throughout the game, and a variety of other swear words appear as well. “B***chin'” is a word that Hoagie frequently uses to describe things he likes that he looks at, but that's as harsh as it gets. The three teenagers often have to rely on deception and lies, as well as conduct other immoral behavior, in order to save the world. As Bernard says at one point, “to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.” The game also requires the use of a bottle of wine – although no one drinks it – and tobacco use in the form of exploding cigars.

Being a game that was originally developed by LucasArts, there are lots of references to Star Wars and other LucasArts games, including “Sam and Max Save the World.” For those that have played the original, none of the puzzles or content have changed – the same solutions that worked in 1993 will solve the puzzles here. But this nostalgic trip is worth the price. Those who haven't played the original also will enjoy the game. Although the game can be completed in about eight hours, it can be worth playing again to see what was missed previously.

Day of the Tentacle is considered to be one of the best adventure games ever created, and it holds up to the test of time well. Just like reading an old, classic novel, it is worth playing again, and for those who haven't played it before, they are in for a real treat with the remastered edition. Don't forget to charge your Chron-O-John before you take a trip through time!

Those of you who have played Dragon Warrior/Quest games will remember that the slimes are the weakest enemies that you encounter in the series. This is the story of a slime named Rocket who saves his village of Boingburg from the evil plob. The story is pretty simple: Rocket and his friends were playing in the palace garden when they stumbled upon the Warrior Flute. They blew on it, which alerted the plob (mob, get it?) of its location and so the plob kidnapped all the inhabitants of the town and decimated it. Armed only with the broken flute, Rocket must now rescue all one hundred villagers and stop the plob.

After the opening story, you can explore what’s left of your town and chat with the few inhabitants that remain. The church is where you go to save your progress. The story unfolds as you explore the different areas of Slimenia. Each area has a set number of slimes that need to be found and rescued and there’s a boss creature that must be defeated before you can reach the next area. As you rescue slimes you’ll gain access to new areas of the town including a store, museum, and the library.

Although Rocket is just slime, he's more of a threat than he might first appear. He can carry up to three objects at a time, but if he\'s fully loaded and you find something else you want to carry there are train carts scattered around that you can unload your findings into and send them off to town. In this game you’ll want to collect everything you find. And I mean everything. Monsters, empty treasure chests, boomerangs, arrows, fruit and anything else you can grab. The items you collect can be used for ammo, or you can combine them into more powerful objects using alchemy.

Rocket only has one attack move: the elastoblast. He stretches like a rubber band and flings himself at enemies and objects. If an object is flung into the air, Rocket can carry it if he catches it before it hits the ground. If Rocket is hit by an enemy, all the objects he’s carrying are dropped. Rocket starts off with three life hearts but throughout the game you’ll be awarded some and can find others hidden in the town if you carefully explore your surroundings.

Rocket’s true power lies within the Schleiman Tank which can be summoned by blowing the repaired Warrior Flute. At first you’ll be in charge of collecting and firing the ammo alone. But later, you’ll be able to recruit friends to help you in the battles. Your friends have specific skills like healing the crew, healing the tank, stealing ammo from the enemy, sabotaging the enemy ship, or manning the cannons.

The tank battles are a huge part of this game, and choosing the right kind of ammo is a huge part of winning the battles. You can pick and choose your own ammo or take the advice of your helper. In town, you can create upgrades that boost your tank\'s hitpoints. Sometimes they only cost gold but most of the time, specific objects will be required to upgrade the tank.

The multiplayer in this game comes in two modes: tank battle and surfing. In surfing mode you have to collect as many coins as possible before the time runs out. Both of these modes can be played using only one game cartridge.

After you beat the game\'s singleplayer campaign you can keep playing, whether you want to finish collecting monsters, complete some more side quests, or collect extra-powerful ammo for your tank.

Graphically this game is pretty typical for a Dragon Quest game. Sprites, smiles, and vivid colors. The town and its surrounding areas are very bright and colorful. The enemies are all very unique, including their animations and behaviors. The living statues are quite spooky.

The enemies have their own unique voices, noises and sound effects too. The music is very pleasant and Dragon-Questy. I was somewhat annoyed that the enemy theme music had an odd loop featuring a person saying/singing “Boom Chicca Pow!”.

When it comes to appropriateness issues... where to start. The slimes are not the atheistic globs of muck you might think, as they all worship a goddess of some sort. Holy water and goddess statues are two kinds of ammunition you can use in your tank. The church in town has some catholic references, including a "Mother Gloopierior". The other thing worth mentioning is that the plob father, Don Clawleone, smokes a cigar in a cut scene. The violence in this game is very cartoony and most of it is directed toward enemy tanks.

This is an older game so the price is relatively low on Amazon, but it may be hard to find at local retail stores. If you or your kids have a DS and enjoy Dragon Quest games I highly recommend this title, but keep the moral warnings in mind if you plan to buy it.

Dying Reborn is playable with or without VR on the PS4 and can be experienced on the go with the Vita. Each version is priced differently and does not support crossplay. The PS4 and Vita versions have six chapters while the PSVR one has only three. The PSVR version has a Teen rating while the other two are rated Mature. There isn’t much of a story other than your poorly voice acted character named Matthew is looking for his sister, Shirley. After receiving a letter from her asking for help he finds himself trapped in a room with a killer headache.

There are three escape room scenarios in the PSVR version with the first one requiring you to figure out how to leave your room/cell. The creepy atmosphere is done really well with dirty clothes and cockroaches on the floor, faded pictures and paintings on the wall, and the total absence of bright colors. By exploring your surroundings, you’ll find items like coins, keys, torn pieces of paper, and broken tools that can be used to open up stuck drawers and locked doors for even more clues.

Like any good adventure game, you’ll have to figure out various safe combinations and play a song (Twinkle Twinkle Little Star) on a miniature piano. Some of the combinations were easier to figure out than others and I’m grateful for the various YouTube videos and written walkthroughs available online.

If you’re good at solving the riddles or following guides, you can complete this game in an hour or less. The story isn’t that great and upon completing this game I was left with more questions than answers. Other versions of the game have six sections so perhaps they flesh out the story better than the PSVR one.

Though the environment sets the stage, the game falls apart everywhere else. While exploring the rooms, I can’t help but feel like I’m a giant with the mixed sized proportions of the objects and doors. Finding items to take and interact with is easy to do and the interface works well enough. I did notice some incomplete puzzles since the PSVR version is a bit different than its counterparts.

Throughout the game the “guides” will communicate with Matthew via TV or radio. Their voice acting jobs are decent enough, but the main character’s lines are emotionless. Even the cussing isn’t very believable. The background music and loading music are drastically different and don’t mesh together very well.

Like many horror games, the purpose is to scare you. There are some weird and loud noises, bugs, mold, and grime everywhere. I don’t recall much blood, but there is a human heart that you have to interact with.

If you like adventure or survival/horror games, Dying Reborn may be worth checking out on a sale. For better story cohesion, I recommend getting the fuller and longer experience instead of the sliced and diced PSVR version. The regular version of the game is double the price, but I have seen it on sale for $8.

When you first launch Event[0], you’ll be asked some questions to personalize the experience. You can choose to identify yourself as a he, she, or they. You’ll then get to specify your background and make some other choices that will eventually get you into outer space. Once in space, things go horribly wrong and you’ll find yourself stranded. Before giving up hope, your escape pod docks at an out of date space station and your quest to return home begins.

The space station appears to be abandoned, but there are many terminals with a great AI interface that goes by the name Kaizen. If you agree to help destroy a drive on the ship, it will let you explore the space station. You get to interact with multiple terminals in rooms, hallways, and elevators in the space station. While typing in commands works, full sentences are preferred. Kaizen also appreciates it if you are polite and cooperative. There are multiple endings so your decisions have an impact on which one you get.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Great computer terminal AI; easy controls; interesting storyWeak Points: Expensive for short amount of gameplay; long loading screensMoral Warnings: Strong language (hell, f*ck) is in the logs that you have to read to learn vital information needed to progress the story

My first playthrough was completed in less than two hours. If you plan on replaying it, this game may be worth the $19.99 asking price but if you are a "one ending is fine" gamer, then you may want to wait for a Steam sale. No matter your play style and budget, Event[0] is a surprisingly good game with some clever puzzles and an interesting story. If the puzzles stump you, there are helpful walkthroughs online though keep in mind that some of the access codes are randomized so what works for one game may not work in another.

Finding out the required passwords, memory addresses, and other information can be obtained by reading post-it notes or entry logs on the terminals. Some of the entries are laced with strong language that should not be repeated by kids or Christians ([url=https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ephesians+5%3A4]Eph 5:4[/url]). It is possible to die in this game and there are references to a murder that took place on the space station.

The controls are very simple with the left mouse button to move forward and the right mouse button to go backwards. When you’re exploring outside of the space station you’ll use the left and right mouse buttons for thrust and holding your position. When traveling outside, be sure to monitor your oxygen level. Your character will become short of breath and gasp for air when it runs low.

The puzzles in this game range from musical ones to logic based ones. To get to the final room, you have to locate a diary with a door access code on it. Finding the diary takes a lot of ingenuity and requires breaking into a room that has retina scanners that you don’t have a match for. Earlier in the game you can bypass the retina scanner but that method won’t work here.

Visually this game is pretty good as this space station looks believably outdated. The terminal interfaces are nicely antiquated as well. The sound effects and theme song are both well done and fitting to the game’s atmosphere. What impresses me the most about Event[0] is the computer terminal AI and that interacting with it feels natural.

As neat and as fun as this title is, I don’t think I’d pay the whole price for it since it’s quite short. As long as you don’t mind some strong language, Event[0] is definitely worth adding to your wishlist and picking up on a Steam sale though.

Story-driven point and click adventure games have never attracted me. Maybe it was because I never experienced early PC gaming gems such as the King's Quest series. It could also be that every time I heard about these point and click games, a popular Youtuber ended up playing it and I just watched the story on my own. However, when I saw the Youtuber Jesse Cox play the old demo of Fran Bow, I was enchanted. Something about this game made me want to experience the story for myself, to watch the events unfold without seeing it through another pair of eyes first. Now this question can be answered: was Fran Bow’s enchantment over me a pleasant charm or a terrible curse? I dive into KillMonday Games’ point and click adventure to find out.

Fran Bow is the story of a young girl whose parents were brutally murdered before her eyes. The only things she remembers is a horned being who murdered her family and her cat Mr. Midnight being taken from her. She is also forced to stay in a mental asylum for disturbed children. As Fran, it is your job to find the correct items and information to solve puzzles and obtain the tools to progress through the story. As you progress through the chapters, the game's mechanics will allow you to travel through alternate planes of reality. Changing realities will allow you to solve puzzles or meet new characters to continue the story. Mini-games break up the chapters every now and then. They are a great break up between the heavy plot elements of the game. If you do not enjoy these mini-games, they can be skipped.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Excellently written point and click adventure game with a strong horror element.Weak Points: The ending may not be for everyone, the game itself may not have much replay value for most people.Moral Warnings: You're fighting a war against Lucifer; occult and violent themes are extremely high.

The art-style of this game is gorgeous. Throughout the chapters of the game I felt like I was watching a moving oil painting. Water effects, lighting, and video game terms were lost to me as it all felt like it was a beautifully painted book that was coming to life as I read it. When I crossed over to the more horrific realities, I was terrified. The terror that was experienced was not the kind of monster that jumped out at you screaming either. This was a fear that stayed and sat, festering in the mind and soul as it raised questions and gave few to no answers. The world of Fran Bow is one of beauty and terror that anyone who loves good visuals will enjoy.

The sound of the game provides the appropriate ambiance for every section of Fran’s world. The music will fill you with a sense of foreboding curiosity at times, and a joyful childlike wonder at other times. The sound effects of every moment – from meeting the demon that haunts her to interacting with the various denizens of the realities aid in bringing the game to life. While this entire game was made by only two people, these two people lovingly crafted this soundtrack.

The most important aspect of the game is the story. The best way to describe it (in a spoiler free way) is an exciting journey, built a smooth way to what is the most disappointing and aggravating ending I have ever experienced in a video game. A quote from an anime reviewer named Glass Reflection fits best here: “the ending is paramount.”

The ending to Fran Bow didn't sequel bait, nor tie up any loose ends to know the truth behind Fran and her experiences. The ending was a cop-out. Maybe I wasn't the audience that the developer intended to have, or maybe this game had some deep secret message that didn't hit me. When you judge the game on the story alone without factoring in personal emotional appeal that you felt for Fran, you will be left hungry for more. The final chapter really lets down the whole game. If Fran Bow had replay value, or anything at all to come back to once you've beaten the game, then maybe a bad ending wouldn't affect the experience so much. However it seems that this game has only one ending to speak of.

So with morality I'm going to get straight to the point for you fine folks out here. This girl is basically fighting a horrific battle against hell's king itself. Whether it's actually Lucifer or if the girl is a twisted mental psychotic, the ending won't clear it up for you. Violence is extremely common. Occult references are commonplace in the story and you're playing a point and click adventure game where a little girl is going through events that you wouldn't wish on a hardened military veteran. One of the security guards at the mental asylum even tries to force her to kiss him. One of the ways you can change realities is by using a medication. This games imagery is violent and disturbing, Fran Bow is not for the faint of heart.

On a more general note, don't get this game for children under the age of 16 either. However for those whose faith is unshakable by dark stories then you might find an interesting and thought provoking game in Fran Bow.

Young Abigail Blackwood passed away in 1902. She never expected to rise from her grave 40 years later and return to her childhood home, Blackwood Manor. Now as a ghost, she finds the place largely devoid of life, but there is a malevolent presence within the dilapidated mansion. Driven by curiosity, she must discover what happened to everyone and uncover a sinister mystery that has been haunting the region for more than four decades.

That mysterious synopsis is what drives Goetia, a point-and-click adventure game from Sushee. This game drips with atmosphere, from the gloomy backgrounds to the haunting music and spooky sound effects. You play Abigail, represented by an ephemeral, luminescent orb that follows your mouse cursor around the scenes. Left clicking on an object will bring up a menu allowing you to look at objects, try to manipulate them, or possess them. Other keyboard buttons allow you to bring up your journal, look at the documents you've seen so far, or highlight objects you can interact with. The interface is minimal and the controls sharp, allowing you to get drawn into the mystery without getting distracted by the minutiae of game design.

As you explore the mansion and the environment around it, you are able to learn more about the mansion, the nearby village, the forest behind the mansion, and more. You'll unlock clues about what happened to your family and what they were involved in, and Abigail's role in the events as well. One of the elements that deviates Goetia from other adventure games is inventory management; since you're a ghostly orb, you don't have a backpack or pockets to keep the items you come across. Instead, you can push your essence into specific objects in order to "possess" them for as long as you need. The object will float around and can interact with some parts of the world in order to solve various challenges. While Abigail can float through floors and walls unless they're sealed (more on that later), the object can't pass through solid objects. Sometimes the challenge can simply be to get an item from one place to another while trying to figure out how to get around a locked door.

There also are a variety of puzzles to solve as well. Some of these are familiar challenges, like trying to rearrange a torn note into its original form so you can read it. Others provide more of a challenge, including trying to match sheet music to a musical score. Some of the puzzles may prove to be too challenging, though – even to the point of making very little sense. I admit that I had to look at the solution to a few of the puzzles, and even with the answers I couldn't figure out the puzzle. This is something that even the author of the walkthrough admitted. Although all the dialogue is text based, you'll need to have a good set of speakers or headphones to solve some of the challenges, since some of them are based on audio clues, including a couple of musical challenges.

You'll want to listen to the game, anyway. The eerie sound effects and music do an excellent job of drawing you into the environment. You also can manipulate a slider to darken the game, to further add to the spooky atmosphere (I kept mine brighter since it makes the screenshots clearer to see. It wasn't because I was scared... honest!). This game is gorgeous in its art style – although desolate and decrepit, the details in the artwork are amazing. Even the "Silver Labyrinth," which is an area where you pass through old photographs, look like you are traveling through scratched and speckled black and white photos. The game may be classified as "horror," but the environment is more unsettling than terrifying. There aren't any jump scares, and since you're a ghost, you really don't have to worry about anything killing you. In fact, once you get to a certain point in the game, you can freely explore and solve the puzzles in whatever order you'd like. Backtracking is required, as you'll unlock and uncover different areas, and enjoy the new discoveries in the process. The only plot hole I could find is trying to determine who has been paying for the electric lights in the manor and nearby Oakmarsh long after both locales have been deserted!

As beautiful as the game is, though, there are some significant moral concerns which make me hesitant to recommend this game. Of course there are the undead elements, since you are playing as a ghost. More alarmingly, though, is the presence of the creatures inhabiting the house. It seems that your father was a professor of "demonology," and for some reason, five demons are trapped within the mansion. These aren't made-up demons, either – the ones that Sushee selected have historical backgrounds dating as far back as the 15th century. I recognized the name of the first one you encounter – Malphas – but a Google search of the other names revealed that some of these demons have been theorized for a few centuries, including the sigils and symbols that appear in Goetia. In fact, the name of the game itself refers to a work called the "Ars Goetia," which appeared in the 17th century and focused on the identity of demons... and how to summon them. Needless to say, this game is steeped in occult references, to the point where it could be considered a primer in demonology itself. A strong spiritual center is highly advised if you're considering playing this game, and I wouldn't recommend it to children because of its potential influences. Almost as a minor note, there are also language issues, as "Hell" is mentioned several times – for the most part, as a location, rather than a curse word. In one of the journal entries, one of the demons appears as a nude male, and another is composed of three creatures, including a topless woman. A corpse does appear in one location, as well as skulls in another. Finally, one of the puzzles involves the use of a ouija board.

Goetia is a beautiful game with a powerful story that compels you to learn more. The atmosphere is immersive and the length of the story, combined with the entertainment of the puzzles, makes this one of the more entertaining and intriguing adventure games that I've played. But the significant amount of occult symbolism, combined with how subtly it is presented, should give anyone reason to hesitate. Be firm in your faith if you wish to explore the haunted ruins of Blackwood Manor.

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary is a game that makes me happy it's on PC but not as happy as I first thought. This game is a joy with its beautiful artstyle, mysterious story and fun challenge, and it deserved much more attention. Yet porting it to the PC might not have been the best idea. Despite patches and fixes before the full release, the game remains a potential gem with one too many scratches on the surface to truly stay valuable. This is htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary.

htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary stars Mion, a girl with tree branch horns who wakes up in a ruined factory with no clue of how she ended up in this place. The only guide she has is Lumen, a fairy that tells her where to go by its shining light. Her other ally, Umbra, a fairy that can only move in shadows, aids her by interacting with objects through the shadows. All you know is that you must go forward.

Highlights:

Strong Points: An enjoyable atmospheric, game with a relaxing tone; definitely worth at least one playWeak Points: Despite efforts by the devs, the game feels unresponsive at points; with Mion already moving slowly, it can make the game frustrating to move forward withMoral Warnings: The game has a story focused around humans trying to play God. You get some mild blood splatter when Mion dies

You don't have direct control of Mion; by moving Lumen you give Mion an idea where to go. This encompasses everything from climbing ladders to moving objects to picking up items. By right clicking on the mouse you go to the shadow world with Umbra. Time freezes and you can move Umbra along black surfaces towards interactable objects. Keep in mind that stopping time to go to the shadow world at certain times may give you the answer to a puzzle that you didn't see before.

The story of this game is special to say the least. The game doesn't tell you what's going on at all other than you need to guide this little girl out of danger. You get story beats if you collect memory fragments, represented as small glowing white plants. This gives you small scenes to interact in and explore. With no dialogue, you're left with your own theories as to what the story is. I am not even completely sure if there was an apocalyptic war or presumably Mion's parents ended the world. As far as I am aware, at this point the developers of htoL#NiQ have not said anything on what their story is. So this game may frustrate people who want a clear story.

This is a game of patience and precise timing. Some of the failures you'll have with the puzzles will be due to entering the shadow world slowly or moving Lumen too quickly. Mion's response time isn't very quick either. No matter how precise you are with Lumen, you'll feel the delay when she turns and interacts with objects. This makes it difficult to tell if you failed a puzzle due your own skill or the game's response time. This game will take you between 8 to 12 hours. You do have to collect all the memory fragments if you want to access the true final chapter later.

Morality in this game is a mixed bag. You'll get blood splatters on the screen if Mion dies but you won't see any gore or major injury inflicted on characters. The theme you'll be presented with at the end of the story crosses into the lines of humans playing God I think, though with no clear indication of the meaning of the story I am left with my own interpretation. Other then these points there is little that is morally objectionable.

It's a good game, yet it may not be for everyone. Mion does deserve some attention for her adventure in htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary. Even if I have no idea what's going on.

The game we are going to talk about today is filled with pleasant and unpleasant surprises. The unpleasant surprises are actually a good thing though. Just Ignore Them is a game that I thought would be a C- at best but was much more. While the game is extremely dark and frightful, it is definitely not the game you should ignore. This is Just Ignore Them.

Just Ignore Them puts you in the role of Mark, a seemingly normal guy with a haunted past. One night as a child he lost it all. His mother was murdered in cold blood by the monsters he always saw as a child. While they seemed to be passive as his mother told him to just ignore them, one night he finds her lying in a pool of blood on her bed and his hell begins. You follow him to adulthood as he tries to live a normal life, though everywhere he goes these monsters and death are sure to follow. That is until he meets a girl named Brea at a run-down motel. With the keys in place Mark has a chance at a happy life - that is, if you can solve the mystery.

Highlights:

Strong Points: This is a strong horror adventure, you will get spooked despite the low graphics.Weak Points: The short game doesn't effect the story quality, yet it does effect the game's mechanics. Nothing feels completely fleshed out, it felt like the developer wanted to do more.Moral Warnings: Despite the low graphics, this is a horrifying, violent, and suggestive story. It is not for young or innocent eyes.

The first thing I can say is this game kept me gripped tight. It reminded me of a horror game made in RPG Maker called The Witch's House. You don't think it will make you run for the hills, but the game scared many fans and streamers. So going into this game with a positive state of mind helped. The game is like something out of RPG Maker; all you do is walk around and select items, objects and people to get through the story. Other than combining items every now and then to keep the story moving, that's all you get. You don't have any battles or mini games to change things up. The story is all you will get with this game. Now the story won't win any Pulitzer prizes, yet I would watch a movie of it. Some people may think I am not a fan of story focused game's. That's the farthest from the truth, the story just has to catch me and not let me go. The characters might not be complex in this game, however, the games story carries the fun.

The game mechanic's, however, seemed to want to do more than the game's content allowed. You can combine items you pick up though the game only had me do that three times. The walking animation was slow and annoying to watch especially when you had to backtrack. The art style is cute and charming, but story focused games have to worry about breaking immersion.

Every character in this title has the same face. When Mark and Brea look exactly the same it reminds you that this is an indie game on a budget. The game's length seems right for this story at two hours, but filling in more details might have been nice. It could have extended the game's exploration of mechanics as well. The developer is planning to at least add a content patch for Brea's story later. Yet it may just be the same game from a different point of view.

Without spoiling the story, it is a very brutal, adult story. While it doesn't show any nudity there is some implied sex between the main characters. You'll have a lot of foul language to deal with too. The only reason I am not giving the violence score a zero is because it is a very low graphic pixel game. The monsters that haunt Mark, named Jiwis, are made by trying to create life from the stolen life of others. While the game may have simple graphics, I would recommend this for players that are 18 and up.

While a brutal story, it is still a gripping horror and thriller. If you're willing to see a man truly haunted by evil and you want to help him find a small ray of sunshine, pick up Just Ignore Them.

After King Graham chose his bride in chapter 3 they settle down and have twins, Alexander and Rosella. Chapter 4 begins with the twins fussing and it’s Graham’s turn to feed and change the babies in the middle of the night while avoiding stepping on toys and other objects on the floor. Once both babies are content, Manannan breaks into the castle and steals Alexander while his parents are helplessly bound by his spell. King Graham vows to get him back but is unsuccessful until eighteen years later when Alexander comes back to the castle after tricking Manannan.

Happy to have his family all together King Graham takes them back to Avalon to show off his relics and to share his story with his son (who likes to be called Caduceus now). Before they depart King Graham has to fit all their luggage into a small chariot Tetris style. This is one of the first of many, many, puzzles in this chapter. Instead of the luxurious hotel reservations they have planned, the family quickly gets separated and must solve several puzzles and riddles to get re-united. This is the perfect opportunity for Graham and his son to bond and reclaim the eighteen years that they were separated.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Great dialogue and character developmentWeak Points: Tricky puzzles that often require walkthroughs to completeMoral Warnings: Death and violence

Though Alexander does things differently than King Graham, he must learn to love his son unconditionally. There are great moral lessons in this chapter that promote the importance of understanding and loving your family members even during disagreements.

The last chapter shows King Graham on one of his final adventures when he’s seventy-seven years old. While he’s sharing this story with his granddaughter, Gwendolyn, many parts of the tale are incorrect or incomplete. With her help, his adventure is re-told as he explores the same maps from the first chapter. Some of the puzzles will return including musical ones. Like the previous chapters, walkthroughs helped me get through the tougher puzzles.

Since King Graham’s health is failing, this chapter takes on a more serious tone and has the least amount of puns compared to the previous ones. While these two chapters both deal with death, they stress the importance of love and family and leaving a positive legacy to be remembered by. The deaths in these chapters are handled gracefully and without any blood shown.

The graphics are unique in the final chapter when it comes to King Graham’s incomplete memories. The same colorful environments of the first chapter are there, but there are many plain white areas where the memories get “foggy.” The throwback 8-bit and 16-bit modes add a nice touch and bring out the “feels” for fans of the original King’s Quest games. Even the voice acting sounded antiquated in those modes!

Anyone who enjoys adventure games should check out the latest King’s Quest series. If you don’t like tricky puzzles or riddles, then you may want to skip this one. In the event that you do get stuck, there are plenty of walkthroughs and videos available to help. Overall this series has made me groan at its silly puns and got me choked up in the final chapter. It’s a must play for any King’s Quest fan and a great way to induct new ones!

King Graham has established himself as the king of Daventry and all is well with his kingdom except for a baby owl that you get to help rescue in the beginning of the game. Once the baby owl is safe and sound, Graham is showed as a little older and stronger. Throughout the game he will get many compliments on his bulked up physique. However, he’s lonely and there’s too much food for him and his pet gerbil, Triumph, to eat. The villagers are too busy with their lives to join him for dinner and his staff have placed a chair next to his throne to give him a not so subtle hint. It’s time for King Graham to find his queen.

After constructing a dinner guest to join their banquet, the magic mirror reveals a tower to Graham that has his future bride trapped in there. He must rescue her at once! Getting into the tower is not very challenging, but once inside Graham quickly learns that the magical barrier has trapped him inside along with the two pretty princesses from Kolyma.

Which princess is his future wife though? That’s up to you to decide, actually. Depending on your actions and answers a relationship will either blossom or fizzle between the two. Princess Vee is the more logical one and is considered to be the canon choice if you want to stay true to the original King's Quest games. Princess Neese is more adventurous, spontaneous, quirky, and is also a good fit for Graham if chosen.

With the multiple choices comes multiple endings and you can replay this adventure to get different ones. The adventure only lasts a couple of hours, so it won’t take too much time to see every possibility. Once you get to know the princesses’ personalities you can tailor your actions and answers accordingly.

The third installment is more upbeat than the previous chapter and I enjoy a good romance instead of choosing which starving person to feed for the day. While I was able to solve many of the puzzles on my own, I did have to resort a video walkthough to guide me a couple of times. There are musical puzzles along with some frustrating quick-time events. The controls were irritating at times and I have tried using both a keyboard and controller and was equally annoyed with both options. I wound up settling on the keyboard for scaling the freezing tower towards the end of the chapter. The trick is to use both the AW and WD keys to reach areas at an angle. Thankfully, the game is generous with its auto-saves.

As with the previous chapters, the 3D cell shaded visuals look great and the characters’ expressions and personalities really shine in this entry. The voice acting is top notch and I still do like Christopher Lloyd’s silly puns that are plentiful in this series.

Like all King’s Quest games, this chapter is suitable for gamers of all ages to enjoy. There is some fantasy magic use but that’s not uncommon in fairy tales. There are good messages about love, redemption, and to not judge someone on their outward appearance.

If you haven’t played a King’s Quest adventure game, this is a great one to try. Playing the chapters in their proper order is highly recommended though. Each chapter sells for $10, but you can buy the entire series for $39.99.

When I started playing Kona, one of the things that struck me right away was how much the game felt like home. Blizzard conditions, deep forests, wolves willing to tear your face off, supernatural creatures stalking the woods, conspiracy theories... the only thing that makes this different from life in northern Idaho is that, in Kona, all of the writing is in French.

In Kona, from Parabole, you step into the shoes of a gumshoe named Carl Faubert. It takes place in a region of northern Quebec, Canada in 1970. A wealthy industrialist has started a mining operation, but it has been plagued by a string of vandalism, so he hires Carl to investigate. Although it is a crisp autumn day when he drives to the area, a blizzard suddenly hits. On top of that, one of the first things Carl discovers is the body of his employer, lying dead on the floor of the general store. You have to guide Carl around the village and the surrounding forest to uncover the secrets of those living there, all the while trying to avoid freezing to death.

The game is balanced remarkably well. There are many mysteries to discover as you investigate the journals and papers of the residents – who, for the most part, have all mysteriously vanished. You also will find evidence of supernatural happenings, from bodies frozen in solid ice to strangely aggressive wolves. On top of that, you need to maintain your supplies of fire starters, matches and heavy logs in order to build fires, either within the stoves of the houses, or in specifically designated campsites in the woods. The freezing mechanism is done quite well, too. There are three meters to monitor – Carl's health, his temperature, and his mental state. As the first two go down, the mental state can go down as well. This leads to Carl moving slower, his vision wavering, and his ability to notice things becoming more sporadic. The game has the presence of alcohol and cigarettes, which Carl can use to manipulate his different states. For example, drinking beer will make him feel warmer, but lower his mental acuity at the same time. The game is presented from a first-person perspective, and seeing things through Carl's eyes really adds to the immersion and feel of the game. Getting blinded by blowing snow is a common occurrence, and sometimes the only way to navigate is by the map.

The graphics in the game are wonderful, with blowing snow whipping everywhere. Smoke will blow in the direction of the wind and, with the right settings turned on, the branches and leaves of the trees sway, and shadows dance in the firelight. The sound effects are fantastic as well, with howling winds, branches cracking underfoot, firewood popping, and wolves howling. This is combined with a gentle-voiced narrator, who provides commentary about what Carl is seeing and feeling. There is a lot of reading in the game, but aside from the narrator, there is only one other voice in the game. The catchy music fits the mood well. It is easy to get immersed in the game, and Kona is a wonderful experience in this regard.

Despite all the strengths in the game, there are a few drawbacks as well. For starters, you can expect lots of long pauses while the game loads the surrounding areas. This can be especially harrowing while you are driving the car around a narrow corner. There is an occasional glitch along the top of the screen, where a menu bar would appear if playing in windowed mode, but this is infrequent. Speaking of the graphic options, when initially starting the game all the features will be turned on. While this can make the game gorgeous, it also can make it unplayable for those with a weaker graphics processor. I actually had to tweak the settings before I could do anything in the game, since it stuttered and froze too long. Also, when throwing steaks to wolves, the beasts will pause unnaturally, as if it takes a while for the computer program to decide how to respond. Basically, Kona has a tendency to lapse into long pauses which disrupts the flow of the game and breaks the immersion factor. Perhaps this is just limited to my Macbook or the integrated Intel graphics processor it uses – those on different systems may have a different experience. The only other thing I will point out is really a minor nitpick – in order to take photographs, you need to hold down the right mouse button, then click with the left. This isn't a problem with the mouse, but when using a one-touch trackpad on a MacBook, this isn't an option. I had to break out my mouse and plug it in whenever I needed to take a photograph.

There are a few moral considerations to the game. Kona is surprisingly bloodless. When wolves do attack, your screen flashes dark when you take damage, and when you kill a wolf, the animal merely falls over, again without any blood. You do come across a few dead bodies and evidence of dead bodies – it is a murder mystery, after all – but again, there is very little blood, and no gore. There are a few language issues, but nothing terribly harsh. D**n is written a few times, and God's name is taken in vain a couple times as well. Being a private detective, Carl has no issues snooping through people's belongings, or even taking items that don't belong to him in order to solve some of the challenges he faces. The biggest issue may be some of the documents you'll come across. Many of the people of the town have secrets, ranging from Communist affiliations and efforts to overthrow the government, to adultery. Some of these may not make sense to younger players and there isn't anything terribly detailed in the documents, but it could lead to some interesting discussions.

Kona is a wonderful experience and a great environment to get lost in. The graphics, the music and the storyline all add up to make an addictive and compelling mystery. While there is plenty to do, there isn't much replay value to it once everything has been discovered and all the achievements have been unlocked. As long as you don't mind being interrupted by frequent pauses with game loading, you will find this game well worth the price.

The sea's bounty holds innumerable riches, but also great danger. The fishermen of the region learned this the hard way, when their efforts to fish the deepest part of the sea awoke an ancient evil. The legendary Skyfish emerged and mutated the people into hideous monstrosities. One little girl was forced away from her brother and cast into the sea to drown. But fate must have smiled on her that day, because the Moonwhale rescued her. Now, with the help of the Moonwhale, a diminutive flying fish, and her trusty fishing pole, Little Red Hook seeks to destroy the Skyfish and his evil minions for good!

“Legend of the Skyfish,” from Mgaia Studios, has the player controlling Little Red Hook. She uses her fishing line and hook to latch onto platforms or reel enemies closer, and can swing the pole like a sword to slash her enemies. In each level, she needs to destroy the Skyfish totem in order to advance. Some of the areas also contain upgrades to her hood, pole or hook in order to make her adventures a bit easier. There are a total of 45 different levels, which include three challenging boss fights.

The graphics are very cute, with an island/nautical theme. Legend of the Skyfish seems inspired by the early “Legend of Zelda” games, with a cartoonish, 2D isometric perspective. All of the enemies have a fish or aquatic motif, and almost seem as a secondary distraction to the main theme of the different levels – figuring out how to navigate the different platforms and gates in order to destroy the totem pole, which looks like a representation of the Skyfish. The puzzles aren't overly complicated, but require some experimentation and out-of-the-box thinking to solve. The musical score is pleasant as well and fits the mood nicely.

Some of the puzzles can be tricky to navigate, and sometimes Little Red Hook will take damage. If she takes too much, she will collapse to the ground with a cry of dismay. Not to worry, though – she will pop back up at the last checkpoint or the beginning of a stage. Most of the time, this is a minor setback, and you'll simply have to rethink your approach or your timing on the challenge you face. The game is quite generous with how merciful it can be.

The most difficult stages are the boss battles, but these aren't to an overwhelming extent. However, it's during these times that one of the game's biggest flaws comes to light – the controls. I've played this with both the keyboard and an Xbox controller, with mixed results. Using the keyboard it was easy to move Little Red Hook around, but right-clicking with the mouse could sometimes make it harder to hit your target with the way the screen moves. Using the controller meant having much more control over the fishing line, but then it becomes more difficult to walk around and slash at her enemies. All in all, I preferred using the keyboard over the controller. Since I didn't test the game on a portable device, I can't say how Legend of the Skyfish functions with the tablet controls. The only other potential problems I found was the lack of replay value in the game, and on the Steam platform, the absence of achievements, trading cards, or cloud saving capabilities. With 45 levels, the game is surprisingly short – it contains only three fun boss battles, and can be completed in approximately six hours.

From a moral perspective, this game is pretty clean. Little Red Hook slashes at her enemies, but they simply disappear in a puff of dust when defeated. Likewise, when she is killed, she simply falls over. There isn't any foul language to encounter – in fact, the only place text shows up is in the menus, the cutscenes, the boss fights and the story boxes upon first entering an area.

If you're looking for a fun game, Legend of the Skyfish is a good catch. It has some thought-provoking puzzles, fun enemies and boss fights, and pleasing graphics and music. It's too bad there isn't more substance to the game – there is a lot of potential here, and the game will be over before you can get too immersed in its content. Still, at the price it offers, it could be one to reel in.

Maize was originally released for Windows in December of 2016. The reviews are very positive and with the quirky Monty Python style humor, I can see why. Xbox One and PlayStation 4 users can now join in on this silly adventure.

In Maize you start off in a corn field and are greeted by talking corn stalks that ask for your assistance. True to most adventure games, you’ll have to explore and collect items that will in come in handy later on in your journey. Most of the objects you collect are used relatively quickly, but the stale English muffin you find in the beginning of the game isn't used until the very end.

Highlights:

Strong Points: Probably one of the funniest adventure games I’ve playedWeak Points: Dated visuals; saw a typo Moral Warnings: There is some violence and a corpse that you get to loot; some language (d*mn, dumb*ss) and blaspheming

The puzzles are out there at times, and thankfully, an online walkthrough guided me through some of the trickier ones. I never knew that a bent screw I found in an outhouse could be used to replace a missing fuse in the fuse box. There are lots of places to visit and literal mazes to go through. I’m thankful for the orange boxes that blockade areas that don’t need to be explored quite yet. Without those in place, I probably would have gotten lost more often.

Exploring this abandoned farm/laboratory is half of the fun in this game. The sticky note arguments between Bob and Ted are absolutely hilarious and worth reading. Besides inventory items you’ll also be able to collect strange rocks, invoices, and random books to examine.

I wasn’t fond of the nuclear reactor countdown maze, but I did enjoy exploring the rest of the world at my own pace. The visuals are a mixed bag as some of the textures are blurry and antiquated. Many areas, especially the indoor laboratories, look good though. The Unreal Engine powers this game though it’s not being fully utilized.

The audio is great, especially the voice acting for the corn stalks and your teddy bear companion, Vladdy. I’m thankful for the subtitles though I still didn’t understand what he was saying during his Russian outbursts. Vladdy’s two most commonly used words are stupid and idiot. Often times those words will be repeated within the same sentence. I did catch one misspelling of the word stupid.

This game is rated Teen for violence, blood, and gore. I don’t recall much violence, but there is a dead body that you have to interact with and retrieve items from it. Towards the end of the game, there is some language including d*mn, dumb*ass, and the Lord’s name is taken in vain on multiple occasions.

If you enjoy adventure games and goofy comedy, then Maize may be worth looking into if you don’t mind the language and blaspheming. There are seven chapters to complete and plenty of Xbox achievements to be earned in this $19.99 title.

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Christ Centered Gamer looks at video games from two view points. We analyze games on a secular level which will break down a game based on its graphics, sound, stability and overall gaming experience. If you’re concerned about the family friendliness of a game, we have a separate moral score which looks at violence, language, sexual content, occult references and other ethical issues.